Prevention needs in adolescents: What is their emotional problem all about?

Inés Alonso González, Macarena Chacón Docampo, Sara Rodríguez Pastoriza, David Liñares Mariñas, Lorena Comesaña Diego, Ana Clavería Fontán

Keywords: adolescents, emotional and behavioral disorders, community care

Background:

Adolescence is the transition from childhood to adulthood, with significant changes in all spheres of life. This period is characterized by concerns such as school performance, low self-esteem, sexuality, self-image, social relationships with great repercussions on emotions and behaviors.

Research questions:

To detect the main emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents.

Method:

The cross-sectional study was carried out in adolescents aged 16 to 18 yearsfrom Mos Secondary School (Galicia, Spain). Emotional and behavioral problems were measured with the validated questionnarie Child and Adolescent Assessment System (SENA), a self-administered scale (scale 1="never" to 5="always"), voluntary and anonymous.
This scale includes sociodemographic variables and other subscales: scales of control (inconsistency, negative impression and positive impression), scales of internalized problems (depression, anxiety, social anxiety, somatic complaints, post-traumatic symptomatology, obsession-compulsion), scales of externalized problems (attention problems, hyperactivity-impulsivity, anger control problem, aggression, defiant behavior, antisocial behavior), scales of other types of specific problems (eating behavior problems, schizotypy, substance use), scales of contextual problems (family problems, problems with school, problems with peers), scales of vulnerabilities (emotional regulation problems, sensation seeking) and scales of personal resource problems (self-esteem, social integration and competence, awareness of problems) that identify different indicators of each of the emotional or behavioral disorders.

Results:

147 participants (women 64.1%, men 35.9%) were included in the study. Internalized problems werew twice as prevalent in females (depression 57%, anxiety 53.8%, social anxiety 44.1%, somatic complaints 65.6%, post-traumatic symptomatology 54.8% and obsessive-compulsive 49.5%). Eating behavior problems (43%), emotional regulation (49.5%) and self-esteem (52.7%), are more prevalent in general and twice as frequent in the female sex, according to statistical significance α <0.05.

Conclusions:

Depression and anxiety are identified as the most prevalent problems among the study population. Internalized problems are more prevalent in the female sex. The direct relationship between self-esteem and eating behavior problems stands out, mainly in the female sex.

Points for discussion:

How to visualize the real issue of adolescents mental health?

How to engage the community activity and find synergy among community assest?

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